logo
William praises Attenborough's dedication as he wishes him happy 99th birthday

William praises Attenborough's dedication as he wishes him happy 99th birthday

The prince, in a message released on social media, wrote: 'As he turns 99 today, in his new film, Sir David has once again reminded us of the need to protect natural habitats – this time those beneath the ocean.
'He has dedicated his life to ensuring we understand the realities of what mankind is doing to the planet.
As he turns 99 today, in his new film, Sir David has once again reminded us of the need to protect natural habitats – this time those beneath the ocean. He has dedicated his life to ensuring we understand the realities of what mankind is doing to the planet.
However hard… pic.twitter.com/XC0yHKcLRU
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 8, 2025
'However hard-hitting his message is, Sir David always leaves us with a sense of hope and optimism that all is not lost and this film is no different.
'We must act together, with urgency, to restore our oceans. Happy Birthday, David. W'
The naturalist has been on our TV screens for more than seven decades presenting programmes such as Planet Earth and The Blue Planet.
Mike Gunton, creative director at BBC Studios Natural History Unit, told the PA news agency that Sir David must have 'one of the greatest legacies of any human being ever.'
Mr Gunton, who has worked with Sir David on documentaries including Attenborough And The Giant Dinosaur and Bafta-winning Planet Earth II, said: 'Each generation has its own kind of personal legacy from him, and I think that's remarkable'.
King Charles meets David Attenborough as he attends the premiere of Ocean with David Attenborough at the Southbank Centre in London on May 6 (Alistair Grant/PA)
'But also, there's a broader, I suppose, global legacy, which I think is that he has shown us wonders, he's helped us understand wonders, and he's encouraged us to protect these wonders.
'If you could do that in a lifetime, and speak to hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people and inspire them to do all that, that's got to be one of the greatest legacies of any human being ever.
'And I think he's aware of that, and the responsibility of that, and he often talks about the privilege of being able to do that, and it's a privilege for those of us who have worked with him to have.'
Mr Gunton began working with the broadcaster aged 29 and said it has been 'a life-defining experience' for him.
He told PA: 'Every programme I have made with him has been a remarkable experience which the audience have always found completely memorable and worthwhile and that's a joy for anybody, to make things that are remembered, you know, they're historic, they're part of human history.'
Sir David Attenborough in the press room with the Impact award at the National Television Awards in 2018 (Ian West/PA)
Sir David was born David Frederick Attenborough on May 8 1926, in London, the son of an academic and principal of University College Leicester.
Before joining the BBC in 1952, he studied geology at the University of Cambridge and served two years in the Royal Navy.
He made his reputation with the ground-breaking Zoo Quest series, which he hosted for 10 years on the BBC.
In 1965 he became controller of BBC2, overseeing the advent of colour TV, and he later became BBC director of programming.
Ultimately, however, life as a broadcast executive did not appeal and he returned with relief to his early passions, programme-making and filming wildlife.
Prince Charles and Princess Anne meet David Attenborough and Cocky, a cockatoo brought back from his last Zoo Quest expedition, at the BBC Television Studios (PA)
His famous whispering voice captured the imaginations of the nation in 1979 when he was seen mingling and bonding with a family of gorillas in Life On Earth and its sequel, The Living Planet, in 1984.
The following year, he was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II before being awarded a Knight Grand Cross honour in 2022.
The TV presenter has two children, Susan and Robert, with his late wife Jane, whom he married in 1950.
In recent years, Sir David, who resides in Richmond, London, has presented shows including Dynasties, Prehistoric Planet and Planet Earth III.
In celebration of his 99th birthday, his new documentary about the health of the ocean airs in cinemas from Thursday.
Also to mark his birthday, John Murray Press is giving at least 1,000 copies of his new book, Ocean: Earth's Last Wilderness, to schools and libraries across the UK.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tom Jones reveals he 'almost collapsed' while recording iconic James Bond theme tune
Tom Jones reveals he 'almost collapsed' while recording iconic James Bond theme tune

Daily Mail​

time9 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Tom Jones reveals he 'almost collapsed' while recording iconic James Bond theme tune

Tom Jones recently revealed he 'almost collapsed' while recording the iconic theme tune for the James Bond movie Thunderball, which was released in 1965. The Welsh singer, 85, was recruited last-minute to conjure up a number incorporating the movie's name after Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick's attempts were axed by producers for exceeding the opening credits length. Ultimately, composer John Barry and lyricist Don Black placed their bets on Tom, who is renowned for his powerful baritone voice. However, Tom has confessed belting out the song's climactic high note left him close to passing out in the recording booth. Sharing the nerve-wracking incident on Radio 2's Sound of the 60s with Tony Blackburn, Tom said: 'John Barry, who wrote the music, and Don Black did the lyrics, From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'So John Barry said, "Hold the note as long as you can because the music is going to go on longer than that, so don't try to hold it until the end. So just hold it as long as you can and then forget it." I forgot to take a big enough breath.' Tom went on to reveal that the original lyrics were meant to be 'he strikes like thunder' before taking a deep breath and belting out the word 'ball'. He explained: 'But I didn't, so I hit ball and I'm going, and I'm going, and I close my eyes, and I go a little flat towards the end there. You'll hear it just at the end, tapering off, because I couldn't hold it any longer. Recounting the aftermath of singing the last note, he added: 'When I opened my eyes, the room was spinning, so I had to grab hold of the booth I was in to steady myself. I almost went down.' During an interview with Far Out magazine, songwriter Don also recalled how Tom 'got a head rush' while singing the final note of the song. He said: 'The thing I remember most is Tom Jones' recording of the song in which he fainted on the last note. He got a head rush or something. The Bond songs I describe as the lure of the forbidden. It should have the whiff of a boudoir about it.' Explaining his inspiration behind the lyrics of the tune, he added: 'With Thunderball, the first thing I did was look it up in the dictionary. So I scratched my head and used it as a code word, you know, "He strikes like Thunderball". Tom was chosen to perform the James Bond theme tune just a year after achieving chart success with his hit It's Not Unusual. However, Thunderball only reached number 35 in the UK Top 40. Tom has had a stellar career with an impressive tally of 36 UK Top 40 hits and 19 US Top 40 successes. His significant contributions to the music industry were recognised when he was knighted in 2006. However, his version of Thunderball didn't quite hit the mark according to Classic FM, which ranked the song as the fourth-worst James Bond theme in 2022. On the other hand, Shirley's timeless hit Diamonds Are Forever from 1971 was crowned the best James Bond theme by the same publication. The legendary singer, 88, also provided the vocals for Bond themes Goldfinger in 1964 and Moonraker in 1979.

The spud wars heat up! Welsh sibling duo cooking jacked-up jackets bring hot competition for TikTok-famous baked potato chefs
The spud wars heat up! Welsh sibling duo cooking jacked-up jackets bring hot competition for TikTok-famous baked potato chefs

Daily Mail​

time22 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

The spud wars heat up! Welsh sibling duo cooking jacked-up jackets bring hot competition for TikTok-famous baked potato chefs

The UK's jacket potato gurus may have competition as a new on-the-go spud vendor takes the food scene by storm. Both Spudman and the Spud Bros have made a name for themselves in their respective cities and online, racking up millions of likes and building loyal customer bases. But now, there's are some new spud connoisseurs on the scene, threatening to steal the carb crown from the TikTok famous potato vendors. The fresh face of baked potatoes is the Spud Fam, a brother and sister duo slowly building a following online and establishing themselves as the chief potato entrepreneurs in Port Talbot, Wales. Jordanna and Jude describe themselves as the 'dream team behind your favourite fluffy jacket potatoes'. They said online: ' We're not just called The Spud Fam… we really are one! 'Working side by side (with only minor sibling squabbles and major laughs), we're bringing the fam energy to every shift. 'From our little kitchen to your hearts (and stomachs), you're part of the family now, too. 'So, if you're popping by for your lunch break or craving comfort food in potato form, welcome to the Fam!' The impressive pair have their own shop in Aberafan Shopping Centre, and a combined following of more than 30,000 on both Facebook and TikTok. As well as traditional potato toppings of cheese, beans and sour cream, the crew boast weird and wonderful flavour combinations, including chicken Balti and corned beef hash. They regularly post snippets of their busy life running the family business, capturing joyous scenes dancing in their spud shop and encouraging customers to try their products. As the Spud Fam continue to build up their fan base in Wales and around the UK, they are emerging as a new player in the jacket potato business and a competitor to the famed potato vendors; Spudman and Spud Bros. Tamworth-based Spudman, whose real name is Ben Newman, boasts 4.2 million TikTok followers and a staggering 103 million likes on the platform. Perhaps the most famous UK potato seller, his trailer regularly prompts three-hour-long queues, and he's even served actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. Customers come from as far as Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the US to try the 40-year-old's viral tattie meals. Ben has been catapulted to fame, and has even been the subject of wild conspiracy theories. In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, he addressed bizarre claims that he had got in hot water for making his own gas-powered spud gun and firing it in Tamworth town centre, injuring a member of the public. He admitted making the gun, saying: 'I did fire it, but it was in an empty car park at 5am and I didn't target anyone, and no one, as far as I am aware, was injured. It was just a bit of fun. 'I made the spud gun, there's a YouTube video of me with it, and on this occasion a police officer did have a little word with me and I got a ticking off. He said, 'It is a bit of a silly thing to do!' 'But the cop loved the gun, saying it was brilliant. He told me to use it on private land and not in public. That was the end of the matter.' Spudman made headlines after he was forced to temporarily move from his usual trailer spot in St Editha's Square to allow the pedestrianised area to be refurbished by the local council. He claimed he felt 'destroyed' when he was told that he would have to trade from a side street after the work to the square was completed, and would not be able to return to his old location due to a new flowerbed being put there instead. And Spudman has long since been compared to his business rivals, the Spud Bros. The Spud Brothers Jacob and Harley Nelson, both in their twenties, have also shot to fame from the four walls of their food van in Preston, Lancashire, and more recently London's Soho Brothers Jacob and Harley Nelson, both in their twenties, have also shot to fame from the four walls of their food van in Preston, Lancashire, and more recently London's Soho. Jacob and Harley have worked alongside Steven Bartlett to discuss their rise to fame, hand-delivered spuds to the Jonas Brothers, and employed Ella Henderson for the day in a bid to raise money for Children in Need. The siblings have a millions-strong following on Instagram and TikTok and have won over crowds with their Northern charm, having even made television appearances to discuss their business venture. Behind their rise to fame is an emotional backstory, with the pair taking over the van from a family friend following his death aged just 43. Last year, the Spud Brothers revealed insight into their success, and they often have to turn customers away due to the high demand. Jacob said: 'We open at 11.30am and we always have around 30 people in the queue waiting for us to open. 'Then it's constant until 3pm so we have to turn people away because the jacket potatoes take around two hours to cook. 'We hate doing it and disappointing people, but we have to do it. We don't even know how many potatoes we can serve in a day, which is bizarre, because it's constantly busy from open to close.' But now, the Spud Fam are rising through the ranks of the potato kingdom. With the legitimisation of baked potato vans as a clearly lucrative business venture, the old-timers may have to work doubly hard to secure their place on the leaderboard.

This movie is like a Play for Today updated for the 21st century
This movie is like a Play for Today updated for the 21st century

The Herald Scotland

time36 minutes ago

  • The Herald Scotland

This movie is like a Play for Today updated for the 21st century

But right now, right at this moment in Edinburgh in August 2024, Hudson is all nerves and anticipation. 'You make a film and you are in an incubation period for a long time and then it's here.' It's been worth the wait. Lollipop is a small film with a big heart. Hudson has brought all of that energy to bear on it and the result is compelling. It's the story of Molly - played by Posy Sterling in what should be a star-making turn - fresh out of prison who's keen to see her two kids again. But they have been absorbed into foster care and all of her efforts to get them back are blighted by polite but obstructive bureaucracy. It's a film about homelessness and love and despair and it feels like a Play for Today updated for the 21st century. A contemporary Cathy Comes Home, if you like, but not without hope. Ultimately, it's a hymn to friendship and resilience. 'Maybe at first it feels relentless,' Hudson admits, 'but what is so powerful and profound is Molly's absolute determination and firecracker energy to keep going, driven by that lioness protective energy of what it means to be a mother.' Lollipop is a film with an all-female cast and at its heart is Sterling as its flawed, heroic heroine. It's a film that plays out on Sterling's face. Lollipop Director Daisy-May Hudson (Image: PA) 'Posy was the first person we saw,' Hudson recalls. 'That's some spooky stuff, isn't it? And she walked in through the door and I was like, 'I can't believe the person that I've written in the film is actually walking through this door.' "She was just so alive and she was genuinely moved by the script. She read it seven times before she walked in. And she wanted to ask me so many questions. I could feel that it was in her and you see it on screen. 'She just gave everything in the most incredible way.' Hudson and Sterling could be sisters. Or maybe it's Hudson and Molly who could be related. Hudson, after all, is not a voyeur in this world. Lollipop is deeply researched, but also comes from lived experience. In 2013, when she was in her early twenties, Hudson's own family were made homeless. Hudson started to film the experience and her mother's battles to find them a new home. That became Hudson's debut documentary film, Halfway. Now she has turned to fiction to tell another similar story about those at the margins and the battles they have to fight every single day. Lollipop is a film about relationships - failing ones in the case of Molly's mum [TerriAnn Cousins] - and supportive ones, as with Molly's best friend Amina [played by Idil Ahmed]. Read more But it's also a movie that tells us something about social systems and how they become a barrier rather than a conduit. 'Halfway came from this feeling of not feeling heard or not feeling seen,' Hudson admits. 'I went to a protest outside the Houses of Parliament and I saw these women who were protesting for the right to have their children back. They weren't being listened to and they weren't being seen and I could connect to that. 'I think a lot of what drives me and my work is to be able to create space to be able to listen to people who aren't heard. Because I think magical things happen when we actually listen to each other.' Hudson did a lot of listening in preparation to making Lollipop. 'Because I come from a documentary background I'm already a complete nerd and love to research for months. 'So, when I found these women I did a lot of research from their perspective - just hearing them and understanding.' She also spoke to women who had been in prison, and to social workers, housing officers, a family lawyer and a judge. 'It was really important to me that, even though it's told from Molly's perspective, it is also true and authentic and everyone feels that it's a fair representation. I'm not saying one person is bad and one person is good. It's about really questioning this system as it is. Does it work? And is it effective?' What emerges is a vision of a bureaucracy that is not malign but politely frustrating. 'I think that's what I noticed from my own experience of homelessness. No one that I met were villains. I don't think people go into a job to be horrible to people. I think they genuinely go in because they want to make a difference. And then what happens is you have years of it and it's so emotional and so heartbreaking and you can't help people and you have to start to self-protect.' And ultimately, she says, many of us only one missed rent payment, one lost job away from finding ourselves in the same position as Molly. Read our review 'You're just one choice or one teacher's encouragement or one father's absence away from being on the other side of the table." Hudson knows that all too well from her own life. How, I wonder, has her own experience of homelessness shaped who she is today? 'I think that it really enabled me to see the power of using our creativity to transform our pain into light and joy and something that can be medicine for others. 'That was a big driving force for me when I was making Halfway. I want people who are also going through this experience to not feel the isolation and the loneliness that can come from being homeless. This is a shared collective experience.' This is the drive behind everything she does, she says. 'How can we keep coming back to our shared humanity and our collective experience? Turning our pain into something beautiful.' What does the word 'home' mean to you now, Daisy-May? 'I think home is inside now. It's inside of you. You can create a feeling of home wherever you go. Because I think when we rely too heavily on government or councils - things outside of us - we lose sight of what is important. 'And for me home is - and it sounds so cheesy, but it's absolutely authentic and true - home is in my heart. 'Once you find that, it's this groundedness and centredness that means that you can navigate anything in life.' It's not necessarily bricks and mortar, then. 'I don't think so, no.' Lollipop is in cinemas now

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store